


Still Believe in Magic?

by ultraviolethaz



Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Human, Chance Meetings, Doorman!Alec, Friends to Lovers, M/M, Sick Characters, Strangers to Lovers, There's no death though, game nights, student!magnus
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-21
Updated: 2019-08-21
Packaged: 2020-09-23 13:56:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 14,763
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20341249
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ultraviolethaz/pseuds/ultraviolethaz
Summary: But now if someone asked Magnus, after everything, if he still believes in magic, he would say “yes I do”.Or the Gabriel the doorman x Alec Lightwood fic





	Still Believe in Magic?

**Author's Note:**

> Hi, so this is for Karolina (@spideyshumdario on Twitter) she loves Gabriel the doorman a lot. She once told me how badly she wanted a Gabriel/Alec fic and I'm so cheesy that I wrote it for her. So this ones to you Karolina, I love you best friend <3
> 
> My Twitter is @cobaltbane if you want to live tweet with #SBIMfic

** Friday **

Magnus didn’t even live in the building, he just visited his friend, Raphael, more times than was necessary, in need of simple company while he was trying to write an essay, but more often than not it was to pester his friend, to come out to the new pop-up nightclub that was only in New York for that weekend. There was a familiar nature of the lobby in the Queen’s apartment complex, weird red flooring covered the entirety of the lobby space and there were odd plants and side tables with nothing on them, scattered around the edges and the desk where the doorman, Norman, an elderly gentlemen who Magnus had become acquainted with over the years, always sat, right in front of the door, so that he had perfect view of who was entering the building when they buzzed.

It was Friday night; Magnus was on his way to Raphael’s apartment to try and convince him that tonight was the night that they would both meet the man (or woman) of their dreams. He had called into one of the corner shops for a bottle of whisky, as well as going into Raphael’s favourite Chinese restaurant for a takeaway because if all else fails, they would stay inside and watch a movie, Magnus wasn’t about to spend his night without alcohol and food.

Pressing the buzzer and hearing the all too familiar sound, which granted him access he slumped his back against the glass door so he could push against it and get into the building, but when he almost fell backwards as the door moved from behind him, Magnus was in shock spinning to shout at the idiot that had pulled the door open as he leant against it, Magnus was met with the most beautiful pair of hazel eyes. Shamelessly he looked the man up and down. The man was wearing a white button up, a slightly too loose blazer and a black pair of slacks, finished off was the familiar red tie, that Magnus always saw Norman in, although it looked like this vision of a man didn’t quite know how to put it on properly, as it lay draped, with a loose knot around his neck

“You okay?” The man asked at an almost a whisper, Magnus swallowed, when he looked back up to the man’s eyes, his voice like music to Magnus’ ears.

“Yeah-yeah I’m good” Shaking and nodding his head, trying to figure out if this was a dream- _was he dreaming right now?_

“You know that’s what I’m here for right? To, you know, open the door” Moving his hand to gesture behind Magnus, who just nodded at whatever the man was saying, he wasn’t really listening, just taking in the angel-like features of the man’s face. “Who are you here to see? I’ll let them know of your arrival or do you live here?” Moving out of Magnus’ space, the man stood behind the desk, phone in hand. Magnus shook his head again before saying

“Uh Raphael Santiago, but you don’t have to ring, I don’t want to give him time to think about an excuse before I get to the door” That made the other man chuckle, actually chuckle- Magnus swooned and felt his knees go weak, propping himself up slightly on the desk as he asked “Where’s Norman?” The man just looked confused, raising an eyebrow at the question, his face relaxed soon after putting the pieces together,

“Norman must be the other doorman. Uh he’s retiring, I’m working the nightshifts from now on” Magnus realised Norman was old but didn’t think he was that old, yet he wasn’t complaining if it meant when he swung by Raphael’s apartment in the evenings he would get to see this man, who still didn’t have a name and appeared to not be wearing a name tag.

“My name is Magnus by the way, looks like we’ll be seeing a lot of each other”

“Alec” Stretching out his hand towards Magnus, who gladly accepted it. Magnus didn’t believe in love at first sight, but attraction? Yes, he believed in that by the tenfold and it made it all the more difficult to let go of Alec’s hand as he continued to shake it, feeling what felt like electricity running up the length of his arm- _oh he was going to have fun getting to know Alec._

Slipping away into the elevator and arriving on the 4th floor, and knocking on Raphael’s door, Magnus was still in a daydream world, spending what felt like hours at the front desk talking to Alec, about the new job and what Magnus was planning on surprising his friend with. Before he decided he had to leave to retrieve his friend, but he had second thoughts on the whole “finding the love of your life in the middle of a packed-out club” situation.

“You’re later than usual” As Raph swung the door open to his friend, revealing his apartment, the less than perfect red couch, and the plain white walls- Magnus always offered to paint or redecorate for him but he always refused saying he liked how simple it was- and for someone who lived in Queens, Magnus always thought Raphael was trying to be ironic “And why have you got that look on your face?” Pointing at the smirk that Magnus was currently holding clearly still lingering from the conversation he had had downstairs with Alec, but Raph didn’t need to know that.

“What look? I haven’t got a look” Passing Raph and letting himself into his friend’s apartment, falling like a sack of potatoes onto the couch, and placing the whiskey bottle and the bag of Chinese food he had brought with him, on the coffee table. “Now will you stop looking at me” Magnus said not even turning his head at his friend

“You just seem different, dare I say happier, that’s all” Raphael sitting down on the couch the same way that Magnus had “We aren’t going out tonight, but I wouldn’t say no to that whiskey” And that’s how they spent their night, in front of the TV watching a rerun of Brooklyn Nine-Nine with Chinese takeaway and whiskey in obnoxiously large wine glasses.

** Wednesday **

That Friday night wasn’t the last time Magnus saw Alec, Wednesday was game night, Magnus, Raphael, Maia and Simon would all gather and meet at Raph’s apartment to join the weekly game of scrabble and maybe the occasional game of boggle, that Magnus always won- and he would always get accused of cheating by his sore loser of a friend, Simon. 

Once the three of them had been buzzed in, there was one second of Magnus laughing his ass off at the offhand comment that had turned into a full-blown commentary, on Simon’s attempt at helping Maia at the bar last weekend. To the next second being met with that pair of striking hazel eyes that Magnus hadn’t been able to get out of his mind for the last five days. Although he must have zoned out without realising because the next thing, he knew he was being dragging into the elevator by his shirt sleeve.

“What the hell was that all about?” Maia positioning herself in front of Magnus to give him a full interrogation, as the elevator doors shut behind her, obscuring the image of Alec stood behind the desk, and even from the other side of the lobby Magnus could read the confused look written across his face.

“What do you mean?” He knew exactly what she meant, he wasn’t stupid

“That out there, with that” She paused clearly searching for the right word “That angel man, you were completely eye fucking each other” Magnus slapped her arm in a playful manner

“Maia no need to be so vulgar”

“She’s right though, you were totally eye fucking each other” Simon chipped in standing next to Magnus and still looking straight ahead at the elevator doors, with a smirk on his face.

“See, what I mean if Simon noticed it, it happened” Maia said while clapping her hands together, trying not to jump around in the moving elevator, as she shouted, _‘it happened’. _

Magnus didn’t escape the torment of his friends, as soon as they entered Raphael’s apartment, Maia told him everything that had happened in the lobby- even the eye fucking part to Magnus dismay. He didn’t mind his friends knowing about little bit less than secret crush on the impossibly gorgeous doorman, but he would have liked to have kept it from Raph, just for his own sanity. Don’t get Magnus wrong he loved Raphael, but that man was one hell of a nagger if something wasn’t going the way he thought it should. Although he seemed to be in the clear when no more was spoken of it the rest of the night, until Magnus was making his way home and his phone vibrated in his pocket to a text that read **“If you break my doorman’s heart you’ll be moving me into a new apartment”**

** **

** Sunday **

It was the Sunday evening after game night, Magnus had caught a fever, off of someone in his class, probably the jock that sat next to him in his last lecture on Friday, who was complaining the whole time to the other jock sat to his right, about how he couldn’t play the game on the weekend because he had the flu. At 3pm, Magnus had finished all his homework that was due in the next day and was on his way down to the tearoom, just around the corner from his apartment in Brooklyn. _‘The Garroway’s’ _tearoom was a family run business, Maia’s stepdad Luke owned and ran it from the tiny, hole in the wall location. This small room was also familiar to him, much like the lobby, he visited here a lot of times, on his own, with friends, with dates. The small place, on the outside looked older with floor to ceiling windows, painted a duck egg green around the frames, letting in all the light that was available during the day, and the old red brick building the tea room sat in was perfect to give the vintage vibe Luke was originally going for. However, on the inside the place had been refurbished, setting a whole new tone, Magnus knew that Maia and Clary had helped with the redesign, giving it a youthful twist- a stark comparison to the building outside- where previously the colour scheme was burnt red and black, there were now three walls painted white, with the remaining painted a light pink, that always reminded Magnus of pink lemonade. Luke opted for tables and chairs rather than booths like the girls wanted, but if it meant they got pink chairs they didn’t mind.

The streets of Brooklyn were unusually quiet, which Magnus didn’t object to he needed space, head hiding within the confounds of his oversized jumper hood. As he listened to music through his earphones. Train blasting through the small speakers, Magnus whipped an invisible tear from his eye, memories making an appearance he doesn’t want to deal with while he was still feeling under the weather. Pushing against the glass door and pulling out the earphones, the sound of piano and acoustic guitar took over, offering a comforting hug that he didn’t know he needed.

“Hey Magnus” Looking up from where he was tucking his phone into his jean pocket, he was met with Luke smiling back at him from the other side of the counter. “Still feeling sick?” Magnus just nodded, taking his hood off his head, revealing the purple bruise-like marks he had under his eyes, and his ever-red nose, resembling Rudolf. “The usual?” Luke questioning whether Magnus might like something stronger.

“Please, could you possibly put another shot of peppermint in it?” Luke nodded, turning on his heel to go and make the drink. Magnus leaning on the counter took the opportunity to peer around the café, looking at mostly happy couples chatting away the evening and then his eyes landed on a familiar face. Alec the doorman. That was the moment the man decided to look up from what he was reading and looked in Magnus’ direction, smiling and holding his hand up to say _‘hi’._ Magnus did the same and turned back to where Luke was already standing with his drink, in a to go cup even if he never intended on leaving, Luke had a knowing look written across his face, making Magnus roll his eyes.

“Soooo who’s that?” Eyes darting in the direction of where Alec was sitting, tilting his head slightly- a way to point but in a discreet manner “He’s definitely your type and you seem to know each other” Magnus had known Luke for many years, being friends with Maia since middle school, and meeting Luke when he finally married Maia’s mum a few years later. Luke had turned into Magnus’ second dad taking him to the movies with Maia on the weekends and during Magnus’ time through middle school and high school, he usually spent Thursday nights, at the Roberts/Garroway household, for family dinner.

“He’s the new doorman in Raphael’s apartment block, I met him not last Friday, the Friday before that” Leaning on the counter still, hands cradling his to go cup of tea, looking behind him slightly to see if anyone had walked in so he could avoid this conversation, but no one had.

“Oh, so you haven’t made a move yet?” Magnus just shook his head, no why would he make a move, he’d only known the man a number of days and besides he didn’t even know if Alec liked men “You should at least say hi, he keeps looking this way and he’s been sat there for an hour and hasn’t looked up from that book once” Of course Luke was looking at Alec this whole time, Magnus shouldn’t have expected anything less. Maybe he will go say hi, there was no harm in saying hi to an acquaintance.

Pushing off the counter, cup in hand he made his way over to Alec,

“Hey there” Alec looked up from his book, at Magnus, smiling before placing his bookmark in the page he was reading, Magnus caught a glimpse at the bookmark and smiled to himself when he saw it had holographic cats all over it.

“Uh hi” Alec ran his hands through his hair, Magnus could hear the nerves in Alec’s voice, even if he did still sound like an angel “Do you come here often?” Magnus let out a breathy laugh, seeing the look of realisation that settled across Alec’s face when he realised what he had just said, Magnus carried on like he hadn’t just heard the cheesiest pick up line of all time

“I do, Luke over there is Maia’s, you met her the other night, dad” Alec nodded alone as Magnus spoke, “Do you? I can’t say I’ve seen you here before”

“I’ve been here a couple times, but I only moved to the area last week, so I’m still getting my bearings”

“Well, if you ever need someone to show you around, just ask. But I’ll leave you to your book, it was nice seeing you Alexander” Smirking to himself as he left, Magnus was gone before Alec had the chance to reply, and all the better for Magnus because he wouldn’t have been able to peel himself away, if he had stayed even a second longer. Probably ending up sitting with Alec and talking for hours about stuff you don’t tell someone you’ve only met twice- now for a third- but Alec had an aura about him, that made Magnus want to reveal all his secrets.

** Monday **

Weeks had passed since then and Alec was now seeing Magnus on a regular basis, he knew the man’s visiting schedule by heart, he worked out that some of the days were purely for the others man entertainment in annoying his friend for the evening. There was one Tuesday that Magnus, there for his usual study company, arrived early, so Alec had spent two hours talking to the man about his course, while Magnus wrote his whole essay before Raphael even stepped in the building. Wednesdays were game nights, that was clear when Magnus had walked in with his friends and a still plastic wrapped box of The Game of Life and had declared he was going to win. Friday or Saturday Magnus would always swing round, always with a take away and a bottle of alcohol, but there had only been one occasion where he had successful dragged Raphael out of his apartment and out to the nearest club, only to come back at 2am, drunk out of his mind, with his shirt completely unbuttoned- not like Alec was complaining because he got to shamelessly stare at the man’s abs, before he disappeared into the elevator

Its Monday, Alec’s sleep schedule is all messed up from working the night shift, but he must work. Subconsciously rubbing the tattoo on his forearm, he remembered why he was working from 6pm until 4am most days, what he didn’t understand is why his brain was always wide awake at 9am. He didn’t have to be awake so why was his brain. Nonetheless he climbed out of bed and staggered across the room, taking his dressing gown from the back of the door and pulling it onto his shoulders, as he grabbed his phone from where it had been charging, seeing he had no texts from anyone, he walked his way to the kitchen.

Placing his phone down on his kitchen counter, he walked to the other side of the island, spinning the coffee capsule holder, picking one called ‘Donut shop’ and dropping it into the machine. Grabbing his favourite yellow ‘hello sunshine’ mug from the cupboard above his head, and set the machine in motion, before grabbing the creamer from the fridge along with a pot of strawberries, that were slowly going off. Sprinkling sugar on them, picking up his mug of coffee from the machine and walking across the room to push open the doors to his tiny balcony, he got hit with the sunshine that seemed to be heating up New York for the last week or so. His apartment was small- modest if you will- only he lived there, moving to Brooklyn about two months ago now, working the doorman job wasn’t going to sustain this place for very long, Brooklyn is expensive and so is literally everywhere in New York. But being close to his mother was the main priority and he refused to live with her, she would mother him whether she was sick or not.

It was about 1pm when Alec decided he wanted out of the confines of his apartment, moving to his bedroom to finally get dressed for the day. Black jeans, ripped at the knee- by accident- and a plain white shirt, under one of his many oversized jumpers, it wasn’t cold out but there was a windchill and Alec wasn’t about to get sick- he wouldn’t be able to see his mother if he was- grabbing his light brown trench coat, that Isabelle had brought him for Christmas, shrugging it onto his shoulders, and he was out the door.

Alec couldn’t decide whether he wanted something hot or something cold, when he realised, he had only eaten a measly punnet of strawberries this morning. Finally realising that he wasn’t going to decide he went to the one place that does both, satisfying his need for warm but also his craving for ice cream. _‘Thorn Rose’_ the ice cream parlour, situated on the Hell’s Kitchen side of Central Park, it was a trek for Alec to get there but he didn’t mind, he liked the subway- minus the sounds the train made as it screeched along the tracks- he didn’t even mind that everyone had seemingly decided to use the system at the exact time. Today the queue at Thorn Rose wasn’t as long as Alec had expected, considering it was still inside the building.

The outside was a mixture of 60s retro and modern, red and white checked painting rimmed the roof, which had a large illuminated sign reading _‘Thorn Rose Ice Cream’. _Alec liked this place the best, he’d been coming here ever since he was a child. The Blackthorn family business was opened back in the 80s by Andrew and was currently run by Helen and her wife Aline, as a child Alec’s parents would bring him here when they would come on business meetings to the central city. Inside the parlour was just as retro as the outside was, with red booths and white and black checked floors, the ice parlour sold, ice cream- obviously- frozen yogurt and a variety of sorbets. Recently they had taken on new staff- the pair even often Alec a job- and expanded their menu, introducing an assortment of hot chocolate flavours.

“Oh hey Alec, we haven’t seen you for a while” He felt a hand on his shoulder as he walked in the door, turning to see it was Helen, who was serving customers, in her waitressing outfit, which consisted of a red blouse, a black skirt and a white apron tied around her waist. “How’s Maryse doing?” That felt like a danger to Alec’s chest, she wasn’t well, and everyone knew, but he never talked about her to anyone, not even Isabelle. The likelihood of her getting any better was low, everyone knew that too but he’d confided in Helen as soon as the diagnoses came from the doctor, the feeling like his whole world was about to flip- and not for the first time in the limited years he’d been on the planet.

“Hey Helen, she is getting there, no better than last time I saw you, unfortunately” Helen gave him a sweet smile, the last time they had seen each other was 5 months ago, right after Maryse was diagnosed, there were more hard days than good days, but there’s no cure, Alec just has to watch his mother slowly disappear, and wait for the day to finally be upon them, the day that she wouldn’t be here anymore.

“I’m sorry”

“You don’t have to apologise, it’s not your fault” Alec flashing his lopsided smile,

“How about you sit down, and I’ll be right over, the usual?” Alec nodded before Helen walked into the back room. Alec looked around for a table to sit at, then he heard it, the laugh he had been hearing almost every night that week. Turning to see Magnus having just come in from the- now- rain that was pouring outside.

“Hey, you” Magnus said when he looked away from Maia- having learnt her name from the week before when him and Magnus had run into each other at the tea room “Don’t tell me you visit here all the time too” Magnus was smiling the whole time clearly teasing, Alec just smiled back small and insignificant, faint not his usually smile that took over his whole face when Magnus was in the room. “Alexander?” Magnus had been talking and he didn’t realise.

“Sorry what did you say?”

“I was inviting you to sit with us” Magnus flashed his browns in Alec’s direction, maybe this is what gave him the courage to say yes, he realised quite soon into knowing Magnus that his eyes were his Kryptonite. Maryse had always told him ‘eyes are the windows to the soul’ and it was no less true than with Magnus, the brown gold orbs always gave away everything that Magnus was feeling in the moment, revealing anything he was trying to keep concealed and Alec didn’t know whether it was just him or that everyone else could see it too, but he would never ask to find out.

The three of them sat in the parlour for what seemed like hours, Helen had brought over Alec’s usual order- one scoop of strawberry and one scoop of vanilla and two of mint chocolate- Magnus had ordered the same, wondering what the appeal was. Alec was gratefully told afterwards that it was the best combination Magnus had ever tried- Alec smiled to himself about that comment. Maia had left after a while leaving just the two of them, they eventually ordered two orange hot chocolates to go, and walked through Central Park together.

The rain had subsided, and the sun was starting to break through the clouds, ever so slightly. Hitting the water of the lake- beautifully Alec noted- but he wasn’t watching the lake, he was looking at the man to his left, who seemed to be watching the ducks, as they swam past with their ducklings. Alec took this moment to really take in Magnus’ appearance, he was sporting a perfectly styled quiff, black skinny jeans- if Alec noticed how they hugged Magnus’ legs in all the right places, he daren’t say anything- and a deep purple button-up under a black longlined fleece jacket. Where Alec almost always saw Magnus with no makeup, the man had a small line of purple kohl lining his eyes.

“See something you like Alexander?” Magnus smiled, still looking out over the lake, what felt to Alec like slow motion as Magnus turned his head to him, looking him straight in the eye.

“Maybe” He heard it in his voice, the nerves that had risen out of nowhere- wondering if Magnus heard it too- but Magnus just chuckled

“We should take a photo, so you can remember the view” Magnus held a mischievous smirk on his face, holding out his hand for Alec to pass his phone over. Once Magnus had Alec’s phone in hand, he spun around so the lake was in the background, shifting so he could get both of them in the frame, Alec smiled as Magnus took photo after photo, Magnus moved to plant a kiss on Alec’s cheek which made both of them laugh. “There you go” Handing Alec back his phone, they continued their walk through the park, and if Magnus brushed his hand purposefully against Alec’s as they walked, to the nearest subway station neither of them said anything.

Later in the evening, lying on his back in bed Alec couldn’t stop thinking about that kiss he had received, sure it was only on the keep, but it was more action than he had got in the last few years. Flipping to his side to grab his phone, unlocking it and scrolling through the almost 20 photos Magnus had taken that afternoon. The progression of Magnus moving to plant the kiss on Alec’s cheek captured all in a few photos, and all the ones after of the two of them laughing their heads off about it. _‘I look happy’ _Alec thought to himself, looking at himself on the small screen. Smiling slightly, before he realised, he was running really- really- late for work, rushing around to grab all his things, he would change there in the cupboard.

** Thursday **

“Today you’ll be learning about the hidden features of the last chapter, which you all should have read” The professor, in her raspy voice- that was like nails to a chalk board for Magnus- said as she picked up the book, they were studying this month.

Magnus was currently sat in his English class, receiving a lecture on To Kill A Mockingbird he was bored out of his brain, and he had turned up 12 minutes late because he overslept, and was left running out of his apartment to catch the subway to the college building. He didn’t really care about the lecture, he hadn’t dived headfirst into this class like all the others he was taking, but that might be because he was taking 3 other classes and that’s enough to ruin anyone’s motivations. He riffled through his backpack in search of something to write with, coming up short he leaned into Simon- who was sat next to him- and whispered

“Hey, do you have a pencil I can borrow?” There were a few shushing sounds, because it had turned out he hadn’t whispered as quietly as he would have liked to, and there were a few glances from the students who sat in front of him, clearly annoyed as the volume of his voice. Mouthing a sorry to the strangers, who had been in his class for the past year, Simon handed the pencil over, and they settled into the analysis.

After the class had finished, Magnus slung his backpack over his shoulder, thankfully he didn’t have another class today and was on his way home. Looking down, shielding his eyes from the rain, he didn’t see the person who he walked into, he was embarrassed, until he looked up and locked eyes with those all too familiar hazel eyes.

“Alexander?” Magnus said in question of whether he was seeing correctly

“Magnus?” Alec seemed to be as equally confused as Magnus “What are you doing here?” Brows were furrowed, he could’ve sworn he told Alec that he was in college, or maybe it had slipped his mind and he in fact hadn’t said anything.

“I’m just getting out of class” They moved from the middle of the sidewalk, to stand at the side being conscious that they were blocking people’s paths “What are_ you_ doing here?” Magnus noticed then that Alec was holding two cups of coffee.

“I came to meet Isabelle, my sister” Alec explained “I didn’t realise you went to the same college”

“Well I won’t keep you” Magnus offered a sweet smile and turned down the block and started walking towards the subway station

“Magnus” He heard from behind him, spinning on his heel, Magnus was almost in Alec’s face “You should- you should join us”

“I don’t want to impose”

“You could never do that” Alec smiled at him while looking at his shoes, Magnus noticed that Alec did this a lot whenever he was trying to give Magnus a compliment, some form of nervous tick. He found it an enduring quality of the man, something he never put his finger on but would like to one day.

“Well then lead the way” He said pulling out his phone and sending a text to his mum, who he knew would not get the message, but he had said that morning before he left that he would be back at 2, but plans change and he likes being in Alec’s company, much better than spending the afternoon in his room, hearing his mother move a couple times for the bathroom or a cup of water. Being in Alec’s company was becoming a more regular thing, they always seemed to bump into each other, fate always pushing them together like it had other plans for the both of them.

Magnus walked back into the building with Alec, and they found themselves at the science block, Magnus had never been here, being a language major never sent him this far back into the university’s building. There’s a bench just outside one of the labs, where Magnus assumes Isabelle is having her class, Alec sits so he follows the other man’s lead sitting next to him, no space between them, knees lightly touching as they waited. The door finally opened letting out a stream of students, Magnus sensed Alec start to shift like he was getting up from his position on the bench, so he shuffled forward slightly, considering he didn’t know what the other Lightwood looked like, he would just have to follow Alec and hope for the best.

It seemed like Isabelle was to be the last one out of the lab that day, because all the other students had already left, making their way to whatever they had planned after. After another 5 minutes a small woman appeared from behind the door- this must be Isabelle, she was impossibly like Alec- Magnus noted that the Lightwood genes had been kind to both of them. Isabelle had long black hair, where Alec had hazel eyes, Isabelle had dark brown, she seemed to be keeping up with fashion- Magnus noticed- for someone who he assumed would be wearing a lab coat for most of her day, she was wearing a black shirt under a blue corduroy jacket and paired this with a dark pair of mom jeans and the newest pair of Nike trainers.

“Alec sorry to keep you waiting, I- “She stopped abruptly as she looked in Magnus’ direction “Oh and you are?” Magnus could feel Alec tense up, for reason unbeknown to him but he stretched out his hand for Isabelle to shake, which she did

“I’m Magnus, you must be Isabelle” A wide grin spread across her face- Magnus noted again that this was like Alec, as the smile reached her eyes making them crinkle in the corners.

“Magnus” She looked away from him for a split second looking at Alec and giving him a soft smile- that Magnus saw- before turning back to Magnus and continuing “It’s nice to finally meet you, my brother here has told me a lot about you” Letting go of his hand to take the coffee from Alec

“_Iz_” Alec all but hissed at her

“Has he? Well it’s a pleasure to meet you too my dear” Isabelle started walking to finally leave the university grounds, leaving Magnus and Alec trailing behind her, as she kept up her quick pace. “You talk about me to your sister?” Magnus whispered, leaning into Alec’s space as he said it “Good things I hope” a smirk sitting on his lips

“Always” Said so quietly, only Magnus could hear it.

There was still rain falling, so they hopped onto the subway and made their way towards Brooklyn. Alec pulled his phone and earphones out of his pocket, placing one in his ear and offering the other to Magnus

“I don’t like the noises of the subway” Alec admitted as Magnus took the earphone and placed it in his left ear. “Any preferences?” Magnus shook his head in answer, as Alec went through his playlists, he noticed the other man opened one titled ‘_subway music’ _Aquilo playing through the speakers, it wasn’t what Magnus was expecting- he didn’t really know what he was expecting. The sounds of the piano and drums played, and Magnus felt a familiar feeling, like he was walking into Garroway’s for the first time, receiving a warm from a good friend. _But given my luck, I’ll run without thinking_. Taken out of his thoughts by the subway coming to a sudden stop, at a station. Swallowing whatever lump was in his throat, Magnus looked over at Alec, who was already looking in his direction.

“You okay?” Alec asked, Magnus let out a shaky breath, nodding, but not knowing why he did because it was a lie, not wanted to push Magnus especially in public, Alec just reached out and placed his hand on top of Magnus’ moving his thumb to offer some comfort to the man. “You sure?” Magnus only nodded again, flipping his hand slotting it in Alec’s. If Isabelle noticed the interaction, she didn’t say anything, just sitting opposite the pair smiling to herself as she scrolled through Instagram.

Getting off the subway, hands still joined as they all exited the station onto the street, Magnus smiled to himself as the other man seemed to hold on tighter to his hand as they worked their way through the slightly crowded streets and finally emerged in front of a small diner.

Magnus remembers this place from when he first moved to New York from Jakarta, he used to visit with his father and mother on the weekends, at the time it was a milkshake shack. He remembered a time when his parents were happy (and together), when his father would come home on a Friday and they would have a family dinner and watch one of Magnus’ favourite movies that week. How they would normally all fall asleep on the couch and wake up at the crack of dawn on a Saturday, to enjoy the full day together, visiting the park, the ice cream parlour or this milkshake shack. But now this place had changed and so had his family, his mother was most definitely still lying in the same position in her bed, where Magnus had left her this morning, to go to classes. His father was probably working like he always did, but Magnus didn’t care, it was his father’s fault that his mum is the way she is, depressed.

“Hey you okay?” Magnus felt a hand on his shoulder, turning to see it was Alec, who was giving him a worried look, Magnus just shook his head back into reality “You zoned out for a second there”

“Yeh I’m good, sorry”

“Nothing to apologise for” A soft smile present on Alec’s lips “Ready?” Gesturing towards the door, where Isabelle was stood hand on the door handle, Magnus just nodded as he was guided inside, by Alec’s hand on the small of his back. Inside the building layout had never changed, the counter was still in the same position, changing from a black to a bright baby pink, booths that were once an old falling apart brown, now blue. This was not the place Magnus remembered, he hadn’t been back here since he was a child, but somehow this was better, fresh start.

They finished their meals and parted ways, over the lunch Magnus learnt that Isabelle is studying first year forensic science at the college, lives in dorm close to the college- even though their mother insisted on her living in their childhood home, because it wasn’t far from the college- also learning that the pair had a much younger brother, Max, but he lives with their father out of state.

Magnus was now on his way back to his apartment that he shares with his mother, the small place that it was, held a lot of memories not all of them good. He was used to this by now, with his mother not working and only gaining income from the monthly financial sum that his father sent at the beginning of each month, holding them together, the space was all they could afford. Slumping his backpack on the floor, just inside the door to his bedroom, Magnus grabbed his favourite tricoloured oversized jumper from his bed and pulled it over his head, messing up his perfectly styled hair but he couldn’t care. His mother’s door was shut, he contemplated stepping inside, but he knew she was going to be asleep, instead opting to head into the kitchen to make a cup a tea- using the tea bags that Luke gratefully gave him from the days he was sick. Bundled up in his jumper Magnus curled up, uncomfortably, on his metal desk chair, opening his laptop, Shawn Mendes softly playing from the speakers, as he started writing up the essay homework set in the lecture, he had earlier that day.

Submitting the completed essay, checking the time ’20:12’, putting it back down on his desk, he picked up the discarded cup of tea and padded his way back into the kitchen. Pulling a glass cup out of the cupboard, filling it with water, grabbing the pill organiser to make his way to his mother’s bedroom door. Pushing down on the handle with his elbow, leaning against the door letting himself in, suddenly plunged into darkness just a slither of light coming in between the curtains, from the streetlamp outside.

“Hey mum, how was your day?” He heard her groan, watching her roll onto her back wiping her eyes from where she had been- Magnus assumed- asleep all day “Well, my day was great, I went to class. I was late but let’s forget I ever said that” He chuckled to himself, placing the glass of water down on the bedside table, settling himself onto the edge of the bed next to Natalie’s sleepy form, running his own hand along the length of her arm, he could see the small smile she was trying to give him, that was enough.

“I bumped into Alec, remember that boy I was telling you about? Well I met his sister and we went to a small diner” Unclicking the lid on the pill organiser marked ‘Thurs’, handing one pill to his mum, and holding the glass to her mouth for her to drink and swallow “We went to a diner in Queens, and it turns out that it is that old milkshake shack we used to go to, remember, the one with the waiters of roller-skates?” Natalie just made a noise of approve as she was handed the next pill, Magnus continued talking, knowing he wouldn’t get anything out of his mum “It’s completely changed and I think we should visit, when you’re better” Holding back tears as he said it, he knew his mother wasn’t going to get better any time soon, it had been years, and she hadn’t left the apartment once.

Getting up from his place on the bed, he moved to the window to close the curtains properly, picking up the now empty glass he walked out the room. He heard his mum moving under her covers, sniffling slightly as she turned over, Magnus moved into his room after he left everything in its rightful place in the kitchen. Unlocking his phone, he found Raphael’s number and called, he didn’t want to be in the apartment anymore, Raph picked up on the third ring,

“Hey Magnus?” his voice on the other end, when Magnus didn’t say anything

“Hey” Voice faulting slightly, from being on the verge of tears

“Is everything alright buddy?”

“Not really, can I come over?”

“Yes of course you don’t have to ask” Relief rushed over him he let out a breath, tears piercing his eyes “Do you need me to come and pick you up?” Magnus nodded, pinching the bridge of his nose, realising Raphael couldn’t see him he let out a shaky ‘yes’. “I’ll be right there, give me ten minutes” With that the other hung up, trying to hold the tears back- unsuccessfully, while trying to pack all the things he would need for the next day and a half, sure that he was spending the night at Raph’s house. He just had to wait for Raphael to arrive.

_“I’m outside, do you need me to come up?” _Magnus looked down at his phone, to see the text from Raphael, he shot back a quick “_no thank you I’m on my way down”_ and pulled his backpack on his shoulder. He knocked on his mother’s door, knowing she wouldn’t hear him so it wouldn’t matter

“I’m going to Raph’s” Grabbing his keys from the bowl, locking the door once he was on the other side. Riding the elevator down to meet his friend, he slumped against the back wall, breathing still shaky, tears still attempting to roll down his face. Exiting the building, Magnus spotted the Bentley that was parked a few steps down, sliding into the passenger seat he was greeted with a worried looking Raphael

“Hey, you okay?” A sympathetic look forming on Raph’s face “Come here” Over the centre console, the hug was awkward and uncomfortable, but it was what Magnus needed to be able to let the tears flow freely, onto his friend’s shoulder. Pulling back Magnus rubbed his eyes with his jumper sleeve a faint smile on his lips, scrunching up his nose sniffling, “Let’s go, what do you say to ice cream?” Magnus just nodded, as Raph put the car into gear and pulled away from the curb.

Magnus hadn’t considered the fact that Alec could be working that evening, so when he walked into the awful red lobby, and saw the man stood behind the desk, wearing that stupid loose red tie that he hadn’t been able to get out of his mind, his body went into a state of shock, ashamed of what Alec would think of him. Hurrying out of the lobby towards the elevator, hugging his rucksack close to his chest, as he powerwalked to the doors that were opening to reveal an elderly woman, Magnus let her step off and got in himself. He heard Raphael shout something like ‘_Magnus wait’ _but he was too intent on getting out of the lobby, his friend not stepping on the elevator with him, he just road the elevator to Raph’s floor and waited

“Hey Magnus it’s alright, come on let’s get you inside” Looking up from where he had ended up on the floor, Magnus saw Raphael and was thankful that Alec hadn’t joined him, he liked Alec and he didn’t deserve to see him in this state, even if he had seen him when he was suffering from a cold, this was different. This was worse. Taking Raphael’s hand, he pulled himself up, unsteady on his feet from where he had been sobbing on the floor for the past five minutes. Inside Raphael’s apartment, this is what felt like home, more than his own home, even though his mother wasn’t here, this was what home was meant to feel like. Warmth, comfort, love. A stark contrast to what he felt in his own apartment, he associated his own apartment with death, its where his mother and father had ended everything and it was still holding his ghost, his stuff everywhere in every corner of almost every room. Thinking about maybe that is why his mother never left her bed, in fear of seeing something that would remind her of a happier time.

“Want to talk about?” Holding out a large sweater, in Magnus’ direction which he accepted, slipped off the one he was wearing, replacing it with the warmer one of Raphael’s. “We can just forget it ever happened, watch a movie” This is what Magnus loved about his best friend, he understood losing his parents to a drunk driver and almost losing his sister 2 months ago, Magnus was there the whole time and they had got through it together. Always as a shoulder to lean on when tears escaped or leading a helping hand when Rosa wanted to move away.

“A movie sounds great” Smiling as he handed off his tear soaked hoodie to his friend, dropping his bag at the edge of the couch and sat down in his spot, Raphael joined him soon after and they surfed Netflix until they found a movie they both liked the look of and settled down to watch.

An hour into the movie, there was a knock at the door, the pair turned their heads towards the noise, sharing a look of confusion before Raph grabbed the remote, pausing the film and pushed himself off the couch to look through the peep hole,

“It’s Alec? Do I open the door?” Raph asked Magnus, unsure if the company would be invited, but Magnus just nodded, he was rude earlier and he should apologise “Come in Alec” Gesturing to the rest of the apartment as Alec revealed himself from the other side of the door, smiling at Magnus and nodding at Raphael before speaking

“I- uh brought these for you” Holding out a small brown paper bag in one hand and what looked to be a gift bag in the other “Well actually Isabelle brought them, but it’s from me” Was Alec nervous? Magnus pulled himself off the couch and walked towards the other man, “Here” Magnus accepted the gifts

“Thank you, Alexander,”

“I’ll give you two some privacy” Raph quickly darted out of the room, closing the front door as he left for the hallway

“You didn’t have to” As he pulled the bottle of wine out of the bag, he didn’t expect the gift from Alec

“You looked like you needed it” The other smiled at his shoes

“Yeah about that, I’m sorry”

“Why are you sorry? You did nothing wrong” A look of confusion taking over Alec’s face as the words slipped out “If you want to talk, you know I’m here right?” Magnus smiled, trying to look this man who had oh so quickly become one of his best friends, he wanted to spill everything, but it was too raw. He couldn’t.

“You didn’t have to do this, I don’t deserve it” Setting the brown paper and bottle bags down on the end table, next to Raph’s front door- still looking down at the floor when he took the step back towards Alec. He felt a touch on his chin- obviously Alec- guiding his head to look at him properly, greeted with the small lopsided smile that was spread across Alec’s face.

“You deserve it, don’t ever say you don’t” Alec’s hand tracing it way up Magnus’ face taking rest on his cheek “Magnus I know you, you deserve more than this but this is all I can offer” That made Magnus smile, small but it was there, tears threatening to pierce through. Leaning into the touch of Alec’s hand on his cheek, closing his eyes as he tilted his head, before opening them again and almost letting the words spill out but he knew Alec had a job to get back to.

“I should let you get back” Magnus said, bluntly he didn’t mean to, but he did anyway, he didn’t need Alec to feel sorry for him, not tonight. Alec dropping his hand from the other’s face and smiling and glancing at the door,

“I don’t have to get back yet, are you sure you don’t want to talk?” Turning back, brown eyes brimming with tears looking back at his own hazel ones. Alec acting on instinct, gripping Magnus’ face between his palms and wiping away the tears that were now falling, wrapping his arms around the other’s shoulders and pulling him into a hug. Magnus was surprised at first, turning into a statue between Alec’s arms, he hadn’t been hugged like this in a long time. Relaxing into the hug, finally wrapping his arms around the other’s middle, as his head settled into the crook of Alec’s neck and finally letting the tears flow down his face, he knew he’d ruin the white shirt but if the other man was worried about it, he never said anything.

At some point they had ended up on the couch, Magnus’ head cradled in Alec’s lap. In silence the other’s hand carded through his hair, Magnus had almost falling asleep before he shot up quickly, instantly feeling dizzy.

“You have work” Magnus had stated looking at Alec, close enough that their breaths mingled into one

“Oh, that silly job, I’ll still get paid no matter how long Isabelle sits there” Waving his hand over his shoulder before chuckling- _actually chuckled_. “But you’re right, I do have work, but I don’t want to leave you just yet” Alec had clutched moved his hand to Magnus’ shoulder slowly trailing up and down his upper arm, in another attempt to give him comfort. Magnus noticed how Alec’s hand stopped moving and a blush formed across his cheeks and nose, which made Magnus smirk.

“Then how about I come down and sit with you, I’m sure Raphael and Isabelle won’t want to be parted just yet” That made Alec laugh, throwing his head back, his chest vibrating as the laugher escaped his lips.

“I’m sorry but Raphael doesn’t stand a chance with my sister” Wiping the stray tears that were rolling down his cheeks from laughing too hard, “She would break him in two”

“Ew what the hell Alexander!” Magnus shouted, hitting the other’s arm with the back of his hand, laughing “We should get down there” Alec only nodding as they both stood from the couch, and made their way down to the lobby.

** Sunday **

Climbing the stairs of the brownstone house, brown paper bags hugged in his arms, he tried to get his keys out of his pocket, when the door swung open. Isabelle was stood there, hair tied back in a slick ponytail, Alec wondered what was going on as she stood there in the doorway chest heaving from where she might have been running? - why was she running in the afternoon?

“Alec get in here, its mum” At that Alec stepped in the door, dumping the bags in the kitchen, and taking the stairs two at a time, up to his mother’s bedroom.

The door right at the top of the stairs, was open. _‘this doesn’t mean anything’ _Alec kept telling himself, of course it meant something, why else would the door be open? Last time it was open was because his mother had gotten worse and everyone was in and out the door all day. The nurse stepped out of the room, a worried look on her face as Alec searched her face for any sign of comfort but there was nothing, Alec didn’t know what was going on, until he stepped in the door. His mum was laying on her back, covers up to her hips, her hair was going all directions on the pillow beneath her head. Isabelle was sat on a stool next to the hospital style bed- they had that installed when the doctors told them that Maryse would need 24-hour care- clutching their mother’s hand between her own. Alec placed his hand on his sister’s shoulder, in reassurance for her but also himself.

“She’s getting worse Alec” He heard Isabelle choke out, clearly trying not to cry in front of their mum, not like she would remember any of this anyway, Alec thought “I phoned dad, he’s on his way but without Max, I told him it wasn’t a good idea, this shouldn’t be the last- the last thing he sees of her” Alec understood, Max was only 14 it wasn’t fair, that he would be losing his mother so soon.

After hours of talking to the nurses, and various doctors that came over, or rang from the hospital, they decided it was better for Maryse to stay in her home, moving her could make the whole process faster, make her have an attack, none of them wanted that, they wanted her final days, weeks, months to be comfortable. Alec was heading back to his apartment, alone. Isabelle decided to stay at the tiny brownstone house with their dad, she wanted to be near, she had even phoned the university to tell them about the situation, they had been very understanding and had offered her what she needed when the time came- to say goodbye. Alec thought as he held on tight to himself, through folded arms, his mother had always said _‘it’s never goodbye always a see you later’ _never did he think that see you later was becoming harder and harder to say.

His hands somehow found his phone in his coat pocket, and before he knew it, he was pressing call on Magnus’ number.

“Hey Alexander?” Magnus sounded sleepy, pulling the phone away from his ear he saw the time and realised it was 11 at night and he shouldn’t be calling so late, Magnus had class in the morning “Alexander are you there?”

“Yeh I’m here” His voice coming out shaky, when had he started crying? When did his legs stop moving, now he was just stood on the sidewalk, waiting for nothing?

“Are you okay?” The sound of Magnus’ voice bringing him back into reality, but he didn’t say anything, just breathing down the phone, like Darth Vader. “Alexander what is it? Are you outside? I hear cars” Alec nodded before letting out a tiny “Yeah” All he could let slip as he sniffled back snot and phlegm

“Where are you?” Alec heard rustling on the other end of the line, no he couldn’t have Magnus come outside at 11pm

“No don’t- I’m fine, I’m sorry” Pausing as he sniffed again “I’m sorry I woke you”

“No, you’re not and I don’t care that you woke me, Alexander talk to me” Magnus was worried Alec could hear it in his voice, he didn’t want Magnus to be worried so he told him, stopping himself from spilling everything, Magnus could come and get him take him home if that’s even what he wanted, but he didn’t want Magnus to be worrying about him and his mother, there was nothing he could do for her anyway.

Alec sat on the floor, sliding his body down the wall of the building he had leant against, while talking to Magnus. It was cold, the floor was cold the air was cold, but Alec didn’t care, he pulled his knees up to his chest, wrapped his coat tighter around himself. He doesn’t know how long he sat like that before Magnus arrived, placing a hand on a shoulder, he looked up to see Magnus, no makeup hair going all directions- like he just rolled out of bed- and a concerned by sweet smile on his face.

“Hey, come on let’s get you off the floor” Magnus hooked his hand under Alec’s upper arm to pull him up “Where’s your apartment?” Alec realised in the heat of everything he hadn’t gone down the right street and was still in the middle of Brooklyn

“Back there, somewhere” Voice cracking as he said every word, tears running down his face as he looked back at Magnus, before he was enveloped in a hug that’s when he let go relaxing into the touch and letting it all fall out before a breathy “I’m sorry” left his lips

“There’s nothing to be sorry for” Magnus whispered directly into his ear before pulling back and saying “Come on we’ll go back to mine, but I’ll warn you about my mum, she’s in bed all the time but she’s there” Alec was pulled back into the hug and he felt Magnus’ head turn as the man left a kiss on his cheek, Alec could still feel the remanence of the kiss as they started walking down the street. Glancing to check Magnus wasn’t looking Alec brought his hand up to his cheek to feel where Magnus had left his mark, a warm feeling coursed from it, a feeling he had never felt before. _Like magic. _

The apartment building was old, Alec could tell that the place wasn’t new or fancy it wasn’t where he imagined Magnus to live. They were more alike than Alec first thought. In the elevator, there was a silence, neither of them saying a word until Magnus had got Alec into his own bed under the sheets

“Do you want anything to drink?” Magnus asked as he pulled the quilt cover up to the other’s armpits. Alec shook his head in response instead just turning onto his side, facing away from Magnus “Okay I’ll be in the living room if you need me” Before he could turn to leave the room there was a hand on his forearm

“Stay” Said in a whisper but Magnus heard it “Please” Following the line of the hand his eyes fell on Alec’s face, he looked tired tears, rolling down his cheeks. Broken. Magnus curled himself into the line of Alec’s back and held him, arm circling the other man’s waist. Alec felt safe. Turning in Magnus’ arms so he could face him, even though he knew he looked horrible. But he didn’t care. He watched as Magnus’ expression softened and he brought his hand up to Alec’s cheek, Alec bringing his own hand to settle on the other’s.

“You’re pretty” Alec admitted feeling Magnus hand tense slightly on his cheek, and when the man removed his hand, Alec thought he had made a terrible mistake. But instead Magnus entangled their fingers on his own chest, so Alec could feel his heartbeat- and if he was honest it was calming.

“You’re not so bad yourself” Even though there was the dim light from the streetlight coming through the barely there, curtains Alec knew Magnus was smiling from ear to ear. Nothing more needed to be said and nothing else was. He spent the night in Magnus’ embrace and fell asleep to the sound of the other’s heavy breathing.

** Wednesday **

Wednesday meant there was another game night, and what would usually be Magnus’ chance to see Alec again but with a change of plans forcing Raphael to not be able to attend that night. It all got moved to Maia’s house. He loved the Garroway/Robert family, but he hadn’t seen Alec since Sunday when he found him crying on the streets of Brooklyn, and if he was honest, he missed him. Sure, they had text between then and now but its not the same, as seeing the man’s hazel eyes light up when Magnus tells a shit joke, or the way his face crinkled up when the smile reached his eyes. He had let Alec know that he wasn’t going to Raphael’s today for game night and he would see him soon.

Jumping off the subway car, he gripped his backpack close to his chest, and walked through the station, up to the street. Meeting Simon at the café at the end of the street and they walked to Maia’s house.

“Hey, you two, we’re just going out, see you later!” Luke announced, flinging the door open just as Simon and Magnus got to the bottom of the steps. They exchanged hugs with Luke and Ruby, as they left, and climbed the stairs, hugging Maia at the top, where she watched from the door. Game set up, on the dining table, drinks in large glasses and they were ready for their usual game of drunk Monopoly.

“So, are we going to talk about the elephant in the room?” Maia asked as all three of them slumped into the couch, drinks still in hand. Both Simon and Magnus sent her a questioning look “You know him,” pointing a finger in Magnus’ direction “and the doorman what’s his name? Alex?”

“Alec” Magnus corrected “What about him?”

“You know the thing you have going on?”

“We don’t have a _thing” _

“Oh, you do!” Simon pitched in “We can all see it dumbass” The ‘dumbass’ part coming out louder than he meant it to “You like him just admit it” Turning in his chair to get a better look at his friend

“Fine”

“Fine?”

“Yes, fine maybe I have a tiny crush” Taking a sip of his drink, he had finally admitted it “But there’s no way he feels the same”

Little did Magnus know that in a different part of the city was Alec, sitting in the lobby, on his phone to his sister.

“No Isabelle, Magnus hasn’t been here tonight, he’s at his friends” Pulling the phone away from his ear and looking at the amount of time he had been on the phone with Isabelle ’23:45’ “No what did you just say” Isabelle explained how she was talking about how her brother should ask Magnus out on a date, and if he did get rejected that it didn’t matter because it meant he could move on from his crush. Hold on how did Isabelle know about his crush? He hadn’t told her about it. Well he wasn’t being subtle about it at all but was it really that obvious? His mind started to spiral a little, but Isabelle broke his thoughts when she said

“Is it more than that?”

“No, its just silly” That sent Iz into a rant about how it wasn’t silly if he was having feelings for a man for one of the first times in his life and he should just do it for himself and not worry about mum or any of that. Alec interjected quickly, putting an end to the ten-mile rant Isabelle was on,

“I’m at work, I’m going to hang up now, yes yes bye” Stuck with his thoughts for a while, he decided that he would ask Magnus out the next time he saw him. Well that was sooner than he thought it was going to be.

** Friday **

Raphael pulled the car up to the art gallery in Chelsea, stopping the car turning the ignition off and before dropping his keys into a valet driver’s palm, he spat out “you dare scratch my car I’m sending you the bill”. Magnus placed his hand on Raphael’s shoulder then, guiding his friend into the gallery and sending an apologetic look over his shoulder, to the valet.

“Raphael please be nice” Magnus hissed under his breath, to which he got a side eye from his friend

“He was young and too inexperienced for my liking” Twirling as he picked up a champagne flute from a passing waitress “plus that car is expensive” clinking his glass against Magnus’ as they walked towards the guest of honour and the whole reason they were even in the building. Clary Morgenstern. She was the fiery red head from high school that everyone remembered, for her bubbly personality and being the girl, everyone wanted to date for no other reason that her mum being a famous artist. When she came out in sophomore year of high school, everyone had been surprised. Magnus met Clary when Maia had brought her to the lunch table introducing her as her girlfriend, unfortunately that relationship had fizzled out just like their high school careers but they were all still dear friends, even if they didn’t see each other as much as they would like.

“What are we even doing here anyway?” Raphael asked leaning into Magnus’ space slightly as they came to a stop by one of Clary’s art pieces, hanging on the wall.

“You know this is Clary’s night, we couldn’t miss it”

“Maia and Simon could though” Raphael grumbled, looking off behind himself to where others were entering and going to look at the other paintings, Magnus shot him a look that he didn’t miss “Oh I know, Maia feels weird because Clary’s her ex and Simon’s got to help at the…” He trailed off, looking at something or someone who had just entered the building, Magnus confused followed his friend’s line of sight to… Alec? “Right I know you have a thing for my door man, but did you seriously invite him?”

“One I don’t have a thing for him and two I didn’t invite him anywhere” Magnus managed to get in before he looked over Alec’s figure fully and found himself slightly foaming at the mouth at how incredible the man looked. The all black two-piece suit- fitting in all the right places, not that Magnus noticed- the bright white shirt, all brought together by a dark red tie. One that looked nothing like the man’s work one and this one was tied correctly- clearly someone else had done that for him.

“Okay…sure you don’t” Raphael said after watching him for the last 5 minutes checking out the man. Magnus swatted his arm sending some champagne out of the glass and up Raphael’s nose, turning him into a coughing mess. Causing some heads to turn in their direction, one being Alec’s, they swiftly made eye contact, only to be broken by Isabelle tapping Alec on the shoulder to offer him a drink. Magnus went back to looking at Raphael only to realise he wasn’t next to him anymore, looking around to try and find the man. To see him, glass in hand, walking right towards the Lightwood pair, mentally face palming Magnus followed him over.

“Hey” Isabelle called out as they got closer, “Fancy seeing you here” Magnus felt a little tense from the presence of an older man, appearing from behind the siblings, “Oh this is our dad, Robert, this is Magnus and Raphael” Sticking a hand out for the man to shake, they joined hands and Magnus smiled and surprisingly so did Robert

“It’s nice to meet the two of you. Have you been here long?”

“Oh no, we haven’t even had chance to look at the art” Magnus chuckled slightly, making the whole group smile slightly, Robert announced that they should go and look at some of it and try and find the talented girl who created it all. The four of them followed the older man, towards the back wall, and once there sure enough they found Clary. To begin with Magnus didn’t recognise her, since the last time he had seen her, she had dyed her hair a light shade of blonde and even cut in a fringe. But still she jumped into his arms as soon as she saw him.

“Oh my God you came! And Isabelle it’s so good to see you. Raphael, it’s been too long. Alec your hair! And Robert, lovely to see you again” She shouted as she pulled out of Magnus’ arms and pushed herself onto everyone else. “So how have you all been? Tell me. Everything” Her excitement was justified Magnus thought, the last time he had seen the now blonde bombshell was 3 months ago, in a small coffee house in Manhattan. They had met up one last time before Clary embarked on her 3-month trip to the Galapagos Islands. After Magnus rattled off his story of the last 3 months of his life, leaving out details about his mum, and Alec finished up everything about his new job and apartment, and Raphael started to talk about his law business. Magnus tapped Alec on the arm, pointing with his head for them to disband the group to talk somewhere.

Once tucked away behind a pillar, Magnus started “So how do you know Clary?”

“Well long story short, Isabelle has a crush on her” Magnus bit his lip, of course the Lightwood sibling had a crush and forced her brother to come as well “My dad over there knows nothing about it and just thinks Isabelle has a new love for art and wants to get out the house”

“Oh, I see” Laugher broke out from his already pursed lips, surprisingly Alec laughed too. After that Saturday night when he had called Magnus and stayed the night, Magnus didn’t think he’d ever see the man laugh again. This was a welcome relief from the shell of a man Alec had been all week, any time Magnus saw him behind the desk. “You clean up nice”

“Thank you, you look good, I mean…you too” That made Magnus smile, as Alec struggled over his words. He wanted to reach out and run his fingers over the lapels of Alec’s suit jacket, but he stopped himself, they were just friends, who had shared a couple of cheek kisses and a bed a week ago. Yep definitely just friends. Friends who were not staring at each other right now and Magnus was in no way thinking of ways he could kiss this man right now “We should get back”.

“Yeah you’re right, lead the way” Standing still for a few seconds before following the man back to the group.

The night carried on, as the group walked around the exhibition, Robert mainly talking the whole evening about what he thought each painting might mean. Alec and Magnus slipped away somewhere around the 2-hour mark, to walk to a takeout restaurant. Sitting on a bench looking out over the East River, ties undone, shirts slightly unbuttoned just sat enjoying each other’s company. People watching, as girls and boys stumbling to the next club or the couple on a date night who had sat a bench down from them, cuddled up in the air chill. Glancing to his left, he saw Alec sat legs crossed at the ankle, folding up the remaining packaging of his food. Smiling as he looked back down at his own lap and where his hands were joined together.

“Want to go home?” Alec asked, Magnus knew he was looking at him, but he didn’t look up

“Can we stay here a little longer?” Alec reached over grabbing one of Magnus’ hands, entwinning their fingers, forcing Magnus to look up, smiling at each other and looked back out across the river. The moonlight cast a reflection of the water slightly onto the sidewalk, Magnus watched as the light danced around on the concrete. He remembered his times as a child that he would run along the same reflection with his father, how he would pretend to be a merman swimming in the deep ocean. If life could only be that simple and he could just swim and swim, never having to come back to this, to his mother, but with Alec here holding his hand, as tight as he was, maybe life could be just that simple.

** Saturday- 3 months later **

“Don’t be suborn, try it” Holding a piece sushi in front of Magnus’ face, in the middle of a restaurant “You’ve been looking at it all night”

“Only because I don’t know how you can eat that” Magnus said pushing Alec’s hand away from his face, careful to not let the piece of sushi be knocked from between the chopsticks- food is food even if this one is raw fish.

The last two months had been a whirlwind, over the summer the pair had seen each other almost every day, and not just because Magnus would pester Raphael at his apartment but because they wanted to see each other. Magnus had decided sometime in August to not let fate decide when or if he saw Alec, he took it upon himself to ask if Alec wanted to come out for a drink or if he wanted to meet for breakfast after one of Alec’s late night shifts. Over that time, they had grown closer than ever, using every Saturday night as a time to get dinner, catch each other up on their lives. Magnus had learnt a lot from Alec and told the other just as much, about his family, his life before New York, there was something about the man that made him want to open himself up. To spill all his secrets.

He had learnt about Maryse, that one was more of an accident, when he had let curiosity get the better of him and asked about the tattoo on Alec’s forearm. Pointing it out when he had rushed into the lobby one night and dropped all his belongings on the floor

_“Maryse, is that your girlfriend?” Magnus had felt stupid saying it and as soon as it had left his lips, he regretted it, he’d watched as Alec pulled down his jumper sleeve to cover it, just to say “I bet she’s really pretty”_

_“Maryse, it’s my mum’s name. I took this job to do the night shift, so I can take care of her during the day” Magnus wanted the ground to swallow him whole, he could see the pain on Alec’s face from just saying those three words, instead of saying anything he just smiled and walked to the elevator. He had avoided Alec for a few days after that- which now thinking about it was a dumb idea- when they finally saw each other again, Alec had opened up about his mum, no details but Magnus knew. He didn’t want to push he had no right to push for more, letting Alec know he would be there for him whenever he needed someone to talk to was enough._

“Have you got any plans for Halloween?” Alec asked, before shoving a tuna roll in his mouth,

“Uh, normally me, Maia and Simon do something” Looking up from his bowl of noodles “Why? Did you have something planned?”

“I just wanted to invite you to my gig”

“Your what now?” Dropping his chopsticks onto the table, and apologising to surrounding tables about the noise he had created as they hit the bowl

“My gig” Confusion across his face as he watched Magnus trying to hold back a laugh “What’s so funny?”

“Darling I’ve heard you sing, what are you doing in a band?” Laughter behind every word as he spoke

“One that’s very rude and two I play the bass”

“The guitar?”

“No, the big bass drum, obviously the guitar” Rolling his eyes at Magnus which only made the man laugh more “So will you come?”

“Of course, I will, just tell me when and where and I’ll be there”

** Friday **

Hands thrown up in the air, in defeat Raphael walked out of his spare bedroom to the living room where Simon was putting the finishing touches to his makeup.

“I’m done, I’m done, I can’t be dealing with that Halloween beast” He announced slumping down onto the couch, making Simon turn from the mirror he was using in the corner of the room.

“What’s he done now?” Gaining him a piercing glare from Raphael, which made Simon run out of the room towards the spare bedroom. What he didn’t expect to see as he creeped the door open slightly was the room covered in piles of clothes and Magnus bent over the vanity mirror to the side of the room. “Hey buddy, is everything okay?” Wiping his eye with his sleeve Magnus turned around to look at Simon. Makeup running all way across his face, and was that eyeliner on his chin?

“Want me to help?” Simon offered, watching as Magnus nodded his head slightly and turned back to towards the mirror. Nothing needed to be said, he had all the products in front of him, so Simon just set to work, cleaning his friend’s face of makeup first. Grabbing the dark pink shadow and running it over the man’s eyelids, picking up the gold sparkle filled liquid liner and drawing a little less than perfect line along the water line, and finishing it off with clear lip-gloss that Simon knew was stolen from Maia. “There you go” Simon gestured towards the mirror to get Magnus to have a look at what he had created.

“Thank you” Magnus said barely above a whisper “You look great by the way” And Simon did, he had decided to dress as a vampire, with the shade lighter powder and a run of black kohl along his eyelid. Dressed to the nines in a plain black button down, black slacks and shoes - that Raphael claimed were too close to winkle pickers to be classed a formal shoe. Simon looked great. Maia appeared in the doorway, leaning against the door jam, green contacts and all,

“Are you guys ready?” She asked, looking around the room a tiny bit disgusted at the state of it. Magnus looked around at the mess too, but then down at himself, he wasn’t ready at all, Simon must have seen the worry on his face because he went over to a pile of clothes and pulled out a blue patterned button down and a blazer and held it out for Magnus to take. Which he did and disappeared into the closet, seeing Simon giving Maia a thumbs up before they went towards the living room.

The four of them finally made it to the Hunter’s Moon, just before Alec was due to go on stage, Magnus felt his palms go sweaty as soon as they stepped inside. It was stupid really, why was he nervous? But before he could think any more of it there was a drink in his hand and the lights dimmed and the room was filled with a bright red light. Magnus could see Alec and the way he was searching the crowd with his eyes, as he pulled the guitar strap over his head. Their eyes met for a second before the drums started counting everyone in and Alec looked down to his bass. After the first few songs Magnus thought to himself that this was not what he thought Alec’s genre would be but to say he wasn’t enjoying himself would have been a lie, even if Raphael was stood next to him looking particularly unamused by the whole thing.

“Hey, you made it” Alec said, bounding off the stage towards the group of four,

“I said I’d be here so here I am” Gesturing to himself, feeling ever so slightly tipsy from the two or was it four whisky drinks he’d had.

“Did you like it?” Magnus trailed his vision from the other’s shoulder all the way up the length of his arm to the hand that was resting on the wall just above his head, that was until Simon interjected

“I think he enjoyed it a bit too much, I think I should get him home” Making a move to pull Magnus away but he had other ideas, attaching himself to Alec’s arm and clinging like a koala “Magnus come on”

“But”

“I can take him home” Alec offered, knowing that was probably the better option for all three of them

“Thank you, I’ll see you tomorrow buddy” Magnus let out a sheepish wave goodbye to his friends before turning to Alec

“What are you supposed to be?” Magnus giggled out, flicking at the plastic devil horns headband Alec was sporting on his head

“A devil” That made Magnus laugh even more, knocking him off balance slightly, luckily cushioned by Alec’s side “What are _you _supposed to be?” Alec asked

“A warlock obviously, the high warlock actually” That prompted Magnus to mimic blasts of magic coming out of his hands, as he sent his hands flying forward into the crowd of people in the bar, “See?” He questioned looking up at Alec

“Yeah I see. Come on let’s get you home” Pulling him out of the bar before he had time to protest about what was happening. Out on the streets of Manhattan, Alec laced Magnus’ arm through his own to keep him up right and started walking. The bar was in a backstreet, meaning no cabs which would have been a lot easier because apparently tipsy Magnus resembled a very drunk person. “Magnus?”

“Yeah”

“Tell me if you feel sick yeah? Don’t throw up on my shoe” and like music to his ears Magnus laughed, before slapping his arm and claiming that he would never do that. Until five minutes later when laughing lead to Magnus’ head in a bush, narrowly missing Alec’s shoes.

Alec ended up taking Magnus back to his own apartment because it was closer and the thought of getting the man back to his house with his mother, would have been too much of a headache. Battling Magnus out of his clothes and cleaning his face of makeup, Alec tucked Magnus up into his bed, he was about to leave when an all too familiar ‘stay please’ was croaked out into the darkness of the room. Pulling on more comfortable clothing, Alec settled into the other side of the bed, and very suddenly became aware of how close Magnus’ body was to him.

“I like you” Alec nearly jumped at the sound of Magnus’ raspy voice, but then he heard shallow breathing turn heavy and he knew Magnus was asleep.

“I like you too”

** Sunday **

Only two days after the gig at the Hunter’s Moon, but Magnus knew what he had said, yes, he may have been drunk- well more tipsy than drunk- but he remembered. It wasn’t a declaration of his undying love for Alec, but it was a confession of something more than a friendship. He had slipped away in the early hours of Saturday morning, leaving a note claiming he had to check on his mum, he had felt awful about it the whole day, residing to moping in his bedroom. That was until this morning when he had text Alec, on a whim hoping that the man still wanted to talk to him. This was led to where he is now, walking to the subway station to catch it to Central Park, the place they had both gone after meeting in the ice cream parlour nearly four months ago.

There was a cold spell going through New York right now, causing Magnus to wrap his coat around himself- the joys of a broken zip and no money to buy a newer one. He walked and walked until he got to the place that he had agreed to meet Alec, on a bench near Thorn Rose. The place where they had taken their first photo together, the place they had both gone together- purposefully. He sat down on the cold metal, regretting it a little bit because it was both wet and cold but that didn’t matter because the man, he was waiting for rounded the corner. Magnus took note of how he looked, tired and vulnerable, wearing a deep green jumper that complimented his eyes, and those same ripped black jeans. Alec sat down next to him and didn’t say anything so neither did Magnus, they both knew it had to be Alec who said the first words. instead opting to look out over the lake.

“Hi” A deep breath was expelled from Alec’s lungs, like he was holding it until he said something, nervous.

“Hey” Magnus smiled softly even though he knew Alec wasn’t looking at him

“I’m sorry if I made you uncomfortable” Magnus remembered how he had woken up thinking Alec was still asleep but had welcomed the feeling of Alec’s weight against his back, the warm arm he had draped across his waist that morning. “I didn’t mean to” Alec continued

“You didn’t make me uncomfortable, the opposite actually” That’s when Alec turned on the bench to face him, glancing in his direction Magnus could see the slight confusion, along with the mischievous smirk written across Alec’s face. “I meant what I said” There it was, what he wanted to say

“Really?”

“Really”

“Good because me too” Relaxing back into the seat, Alec turned his attention to the lake again, a bit closer to Magnus this time. “You know, that first night when I met you felt like the first night of the end of my life” Magnus made the move to hold Alec’s hand and was happy when the man didn’t reject him, intertwining their fingers on Alec’s lap.

“I like you Alec, a lot” Magnus finally admitted- not on a tipsy brain

“I like you too, Magnus” They could both see the smiles on each other’s faces “Want to walk?” And they did, walking to the other side of the park, just talking about the future and everything that they had been feeling- and hiding. Grabbing a subway train back to Brooklyn they stopped by Garroway’s and grabbed a hot chocolate- after a knowing look from Luke behind the corner when they walked in holding hands, Magnus promised he would explain everything at the next family dinner. Magnus had offered to drop Alec home but what he didn’t expect was when they got there that he didn’t want to leave the man just yet, and Alec must have felt the same, inviting up, without an excuse attached.

A quick stop turned into hours of the pair, watching films and Magnus accusing Alec of being a secret cop for never watching Brooklyn Nine Nine. When Magnus pulled his phone out of his pocket to check the time and it was already way passed 11pm, Alec told him to stay the night, neither of them wanting the other to walk around New York alone. Magnus stayed.

“Can I tell you something?” Alec asked from Magnus’ chest, where he had taken to using as a pillow, Magnus reached down and brushed the piece of hair that was in the other’s eye.

“Yeah, you can tell me anything you want” Running his hand through Alec’s hair, soothing- well he hoped.

“I think I’m falling”

“Yeah me too”

After everything he had been through, he didn’t think he would fall for someone along the way, and that someone being as special as Alec. There was a time he wouldn’t have thought this could happen again. He remembered a time just have his dad had left their lives, when he was so much younger than he is now, when he thought everything mystical was real. His mother always asked if he still believed and after a while, he had thought it was all fake.

But now if someone asked Magnus, after everything, if he still believes in magic, he would say “yes I do”.


End file.
